Dr. David Stronach, University of California, Berkeley, professor emeritus of Near Eastern art and archaeology, kicks off the museum’s new Perspectives on Persian Art lecture series with a talk about the influence of traditional Persian gardens in Asia and Europe.

Join the Society for Asian Art as we explore the art of India and the Islamic world. As in past seasons, the Fall 2011 lecture series will feature prominent scholars and curators from across the country and showcase many treasures of the Asian Art Museum. An array of topics will be discussed, including the life and visual representation of the Buddha; Hindu gods and goddesses and the depiction of heavenly bodies; sacred architecture; Hindu epics; the diversity of South Asian religious practice and the rise of Islam across Asia; Mughals, maharajas, and manuscript paintings; and contemporary Indian art. This lecture series coincides with the beginning of a three-year training program for new Asian Art Museum docents.

The lectures in this series have been structured to provide a broad overview of both pre-Islamic and Islamic art. The subjects include pre-Islamic art in Iran, Central Asia, Arabia and Byzantium, painting, architecture, ceramics, textiles, calligraphy, Islam in India, attitudes towards images, and contemporary art. A distinguished roster of prominent scholars and curators has been assembled, several of whom will be coming from famous UK institutions such as Oxford and the British Museum.

This lecture series, organized by the Society for Asian Art, explores narrative using Asian art—how myths, legends, histories and moral precepts have been transmitted through visual means. Topics range from sculptural reliefs and murals used to educate pilgrims at famous religious sites to works created primarily for entertainment. Contemporary storytelling is also addressed via lectures on Bollywood and manga produced by San Francisco's Henry Yoshitaka Kiama.

Touraj Daryaee, Howard C. Baskerville Professor in the History of Iran and the Persianate World and the Associate Director of the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture at the University of California, Irvine, gives a talk to teachers about Cyrus the Great in conjunction with the Cyrus Cylinder exhibition at the Asian Art Museum (on view from August 9–September 22, 2013).

A renowned master of Arabic and Chinese calligraphy, Haji Noor Deen brings little known sini (Chinese Islamic calligraphy) to the Asian Art Museum. In addition to using traditional sini, he also transforms Arabic script into Chinese-looking characters, bringing two cultural traditions together in his own way.

“If the Qur’an is indeed a divine message to all peoples, what does it mean to an individual American in the 21st century?”

This is the question that artist Sandow Birk contemplated during his extensive travels through the Islamic world, which ultimately led to his nine-year project to transcribe and illustrate the entire Qur’an. Birk will present his project, American Qur’an, which finds connections between the universality of the messages in the sacred text and contemporary American life.

Birk will be joined by Bay Area artist Ala Ebtekar; Qamar Adamjee, Malavalli Family Foundation Associate Curator of Art of the Indian Subcontinent; and Jeffrey Durham, Associate Curator of Himalayan Art, to discuss the roles art has played in religious and political contexts.

The Society for Asian Art's renowned Arts of Asia lecture series will focus on trade roads and sea routes. You will be transported from courts to caravans, from stupas to shipwrecks, from mountain passes and river valleys to open seas. Travel with merchants and monks, monarchs and missionaries and see their riches and relics. Discover ancient ceramics, sculptures, coins, calligraphy, tea wares, textiles and much more.

Asian Art Museum Storyteller, Leta Busyhead, tells a story about Cyrus the Great and the Cyrus Cylinder in the Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia exhibition at the Asian Art Museum (August 9–September 22, 2013).

Dr. Touraj Daryaee, Howard C. Baskerville Professor in the History of Iran and the Persianate World and the Associate Director of the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture at the University of California, Irvine discusses Alexander the Great and Persian culture and ideas at the Cyrus Cylinder Teacher Workshop at the Asian Art Museum on August 12, 2013 in conjunction with the Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia exhibition (August 9–September 22, 2013).

If one had the money, one could acquire an ever-increasing quantity and variety of European goods and luxury wares in 17th-century Isfahan, including Italian velvet, London cloth and handbags, faux pearls and gold clocks. How were these European imports worn and displayed? What did they signify in the increasingly cosmopolitan city of Isfahan, a city referred to as “half the world” by its inhabitants? Dr. Amy Landau will delve into these questions about the social context of European luxury objects in 17 century Persia.

Along with the more traditional jeweled sword and scabbard, this impressive gun served as a ceremonial object, held by one of Sultan Mahmud I’s attendants during state ceremonies. While the flamboyant decoration of the gun lent itself to public spectacle, the experience of extracting its treasures from the gun’s stock is a more personal act. This video reveals the various components of this ornate gun. View this gun in the exhibition, Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts (on view at the Asian Art Museum from Feb. 26 to May 8, 2016).

A lecture series by renowned scholars on the arts of Asia—explore temples, palaces, and sometimes forgotten places of power, religion, and art. Visit world wonders not simply as tourists today, but as monks, monarchs, artisans and artistocrats, traders and explorers experienced them over the centuries.

The sponsorship of art by monarchs, merchants, and devotees throughout Asia will be explored. Lectures will focus on topics spanning Chinese patronage from ancient times through several of the most famous imperial dynasties (Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing) to Jayavarman VII (Angkor Wat), the Safavids in Persia, Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's daughter), and even contemporary patrons like the Samsung family.

An enticing look at the ancient past of the Arabian Peninsula, Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia features artworks—most of them recently excavated—that trace historic trade routes and pilgrimage roads stretching from Yemen in the south to Iraq and Mediterranean cultures in the north.

Is there something beautiful about an explosion? This is one of many questions raised in an ambitious, site-specific installation by San Francisco artist Sanaz Mazinani presented at the Asian Art Museum between March 27 - May 3, 2015. Threshold presents a video created with explosion scenes from 11 recent Hollywood movies, mirrored and multiplied beyond recognition. The resulting kaleidoscopic Islamic geometries of color, pattern and movement—inspired by the artist’s trips home to Iran—are reflected in dazzling laser-cut mirrored panels that line the space. This interplay between the architectural setting and the moving image results in a shift in perception, prompting audiences to consider the complexities of entertainment, mass media and the violence of war. This video documents the installation as well as the collaboration between Mazinani and dancer/choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith, titled Crossing Threshold.

Stories of the prophets from the Old and New Testaments have had a long history of illustration in Islamic painting traditions. Drawing from accounts in the Qur’an and other sources in Islamic literature, scholars, poets, historians and storytellers developed new texts on the lives of the prophets. These texts were often accompanied by paintings. Dr. Robert Hillenbrand will explore the richness of some of these literary and artistic traditions.

Poet, author and filmmaker Michael Wolfe shares personal stories from his journeys to the Arabian Peninsula. A critically acclaimed filmmaker, Wolfe hosted an inside account of the hajj (pilgrimage) for Ted Koppel’s “Nightline” on ABC during Wolfe’s pilgrimage to Mecca in 1997.

General support for education is provided by the Dhanam Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the John & Marcia Goldman Foundation, The Charles D. and Frances K. Field Fund, Dodge & Cox, and The Joseph & Mercedes McMicking Foundation. Support is also provided by an endowment established by The Hearst Foundations

Major support for the Asian Art Museum’s school programs and resources is provided by the Dhanam Foundation, United Airlines, The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, and Daphne and Stuart Wells. Additional support is provided by Ms. Jane B. Dalisay and Mr. John W. Kirkman and an anonymous donor. Teacher professional development programs are supported by Wells Fargo.